City investors hold talks with Business Secretary Vince Cable over curbing executive pay

Leading City investors have met with Vince Cable to discuss proposals to curb
executive pay.

Fund managers from companies including Aviva and BlackRock held discussions with the Business Secretary, who has suggested that company pay policies should be backed by up to 75pc of shareholders.

A spokesman for the Department of Business said the group held "constructive talks". They came as Britain's so-called "Shareholder Spring" appeared to ease as the latest round of companies held annual meetings.

Glencore, Standard Chartered and Unilever were among the FTSE 100 groups to hold investor meetings. Shareholder revolts have already claimed the scalps of three blue-chip chief executives, including Aviva's Andrew Moss earlier this week.

Glencore, the commodities group, which is plotting a merger with Xsrata, held its first annual meeting since listing its shares in London last year. All resolutions were passed with high majorities, despite calls from Pirc, the investor advisory group, for investors to vote against chairman Simon Murray's re-election, amid concerns about the board's independence.

Standard Chartered, the emerging markets lender, saw shareholder discontent fall year-on-year with just 7.4pc of its investors objecting to its remuneration report, compared with 21pc last year.

Shareholders at consumer goods group Unilever backed the 2012 salary increase awarded to chief executive Paul Polman, despite opposition from a minority of investors. The resolution on the company's remuneration policy was carried with the backing of 94pc of shareholders and will see Mr Polman's basic salary rise 6pc to £975,000, before bonus and share awards. Elsewhere, 96pc of investors in engineering group Weir backed the company's pay report, while F&C Asset Management was supported by 91.8pc of its investors.

On Tuesday, the chairman of William Hill mounted the first corporate fightback, criticising investors for voting against its pay policy. Jeffrey Rosen, the chaiman of WPP's remuneration committee, is also set to embark on meetings with the group's investors to head off a potential revolt against Sir Martin Sorrell's pay later this month.